Peace And Quiet

As a child, every year, at our village church Carol service, I would read the passage from Isaiah which foretold Jesus’ birth.
 

This year, I am back by popular demand.

 

It is one of my favourite Christmas passages and I probably know it off by heart. In fact, I even mentioned it on this blog just over a week ago.

 

       “The people walking in darkness

       have seen a great light;

       on those living in the land of the shadow of death

       a light has dawned […]

       For to us a child is born,

       to us a son is given,

       and the government will be on his shoulders.

       And he will be called

       Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

       [Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 NIV]

 

Last night, we were discussing this verse in detail and were considering the different names given to Jesus.  In particular, we considered what the title Prince of Peace meant.

 

When we think of ‘Peace’, we tend to think of it as being partnered with ‘Quiet’.  We enjoy a moment  of ‘Peace and Quiet’.  Peace is lying in the bath, relaxing with a glass of wine.  Peace is passive and still and tranquil.*

 

Or is it?

 

If we think of Peace in a war-torn land, or Peace between two fighting families, we find that Peace is something immensely valuable.  Peace is something worth fighting for.  Peace is the absence of conflict, it’s the end of a struggle.  Peace takes effort and sacrifice and intervention.  Peace doesn’t just happen.

 

Jesus came to bring Peace to men on earth.  Peace between men and Peace between man and God.  He came to bring wholeness and completion.  And He fought for it on the cross, until it was won.

 

Now, if we want it, we can have true, deep, lasting Peace, through a relationship with Jesus.  In the same way that a city can sleep peacefully because it knows its watchmen are vigilantly guarding the walls, we can have peace because Jesus is vigilantly watching over us.

 

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

 

[Philippians 4:7 NIV] 

 

 

* Or Peace is, as the 70s would have it, all-embracing, all-accepting, totally awesome.

 

The Strangeness of Silence

I don't like silence. 

No, that's not quite true - I like (and sometimes demand) silence when I'm talking - especially to a class.  But I don't like to be in silence.  I don't like to be surrounded by it.

If I'm at home, I'll often have the TV on in the background, even if I'm not really watching it.  Or I'll put some music or the radio on, just so that I'm not in silence.

I had the very odd experience of being in a room of 300 people yesterday which was silenced by someone.  It felt unnatural and uncomfortable. 

We don't like to be silenced.

I think our modern understanding of silence has negative connotations of punishment or poverty: punishment for bad or antisocial behaviour - we make people work in silence and take away their right to speak; or poverty if people can't afford, or don't have, TVs or MP3 players to fill their silences.

We don't see silence as a privilege.

We don't see it as a privilege and most of us are scared of what we might find in the silence.

If we strip away the competing voices and distractions, if we silence the noises which surrounds us, we are left with ourselves.  With our own hearts and our own thoughts and our own voices. 

And sometimes we don't want to hear those things.

Sometimes we'd rather hide in the noise than deal with the deep longings and desires and dissatisfactions we find in our own hearts.

But the Bible tells us that sometimes we need silence.

       "This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

       'In repentance and rest is your salvation,
       in quietness and trust is your strength.'"

       [Isaiah 30:15 NIV, emphasis mine]


        "I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.
        Like a baby content in its mother’s arms,
        my soul is a baby content.

           Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope.
        Hope now; hope always!"

 

        [Psalm 131:2-3 MSG]

Sometimes we need to mute the world, in order for us to hear the true longings of our hearts and to listen for God's voice.   

And it is in the silence that we will hear the still, small voice of God.

Traffic Jams

Patience is a virtue.

 

Apparently.

 

I found myself in a traffic jam today - a completely solid-not-at-all-moving traffic jam.  And the most annoying thing was that I was less than a quarter of a mile from my destination.

 

We all sat still for about 5 minutes with absolutely no movement and then the driver of the car behind me got out to see what was going on.  He got back in and shrugged his shoulders.  We were all stuck, but we didn't know why.

 

Luckily, I had stopped at a crossroads.  So, rather than wait in the jam, I took a turning down a side road and thought that I could get around the problem.

 

I beetled down the side road, but as soon as I got to the end, I met another jam - there seemed to have been an accident which was causing congestion all around the area.

 

I am one of those people who hates to stay still when they are stuck in traffic.  I would far rather drive further out and travel around the problem, looking for alternatives, instead of just sitting still and waiting.

 

I don't like just being still and waiting for something to happen.

 

I think it's because I don't like feeling powerless.

 

And I have the same approach to situations in life too: I don't like waiting for things to happen.  I don't like being still.  I like to be active and in control.

 

The Bible says,

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."

[Psalm 37:7 NIV]

 

I tend to interpret this verse as "Keep busy and active and search for alternative routes/solutions, just in case the Lord doesn't pull through in time."

 

I take my traffic-jam mentality and apply this to waiting for situations to resolve, or for God to answer prayers or 'show up'.

 

I don't wait and I certainly don't wait patiently.

 

But in all the busyness, in all the time that I am driving around frantically searching for alternative routes, I never get there any faster and I usually get worked up if I don't seem to be getting anywhere.  Maybe I'm missing the point: maybe God tells us to be quiet and to wait patiently for Him, because He has a solution and an answer and we won't get there any faster by searching for alternative routes.

 

Maybe the point of being still and quiet is so that we don't get stressed out or worked up and we can relax, instead, because it's all in His hands.